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3 Flights to Australia

We left Brunei and flew to KL.Then we flew to the Gold Coast, Australia, this is where we had some problems.Air Asia flew in late and we missed our 3rd flight to Cairns.So we went to the Jet Star desk and I thought that because it was a low cost carrier then it would be game over for us, but I was wrong.The nice gentlemen got us on another flight out of Brisbane on the same day.So we had to rent a car and drive the 2 hours to Brisbane and catch the 1:20 pm flight to Cairns.The flight changes did cost us 120 for the 3 of us total and the rental car was 56 dollars plus gas.I think that Air Asia owes me 200 dollars.

We arrived into Cairns and picked up our car.When we were loading our luggage into the car there was a quick torrential downpour. The rain was coming down so fast that it hurt and I actually looked to see if it was hail.We were soaked in about 5 seconds.We found our way to our timeshare and we drove into the Coral Coast Palm Cove Accor Apartments in the nick of time.Pam the really helpful front desk clerk was about to leave for the day and they do not have a night person on.She got us settled into our apartment and she gave us directions to the nearest Cole’s grocery store and Liquor Land.Is wine ever cheap here, it is a veritable smorgasbord of vino.After the Betty Ford of Countries – Brunei where alcohol is illegal in the country and not served or sold anywhere, Australia was like striking gold.If you buy 6 bottles at Liquor Land then you get a further 20% off.Pam had suggested New Zealand whites and she knows what she is talking about.I purchased a Sauvignon Blanc called ‘Wahu’.I liked the name and the clerk said he could not keep it on the shelves.It is soooo good.

We slept in late on the next morning because of our overnight flight from KL to Australia.We were bagged.When I woke up, it was nice and sunny and I showered and started planning our week here in North Queensland.There is no evidence of all of the flooding that has caused the poor Aussies so much trouble.This area has been saved from the flooding however there is evidence of the Cyclone Yazi that came through two weeks ago.They are still cleaning up piles of plant debris from that disaster.

I had about 1/2 hour to go and sit by the pool before it started to rain so I was walking around the pool when I saw what looked to be a bird stuck in the tree with it's wings flapping wildly. When I got closer I realized that it was just two gargantuan butterflies. I am not lieing when I say they both had wing spans of over 6 inches. One was black with orange yellow markings with an intense red body and it was pretty but the other one was stunning with emerald green marked all over it's wings with a black background. These two butterflies were playfully flying around and in and around my head, I had to duck once. I watched them tranfixed by their beauty as they lapped up the nectar from some of the unusual looking white stringy lilies. They were not shy and I ran back to get my camera and when I came back they were gone. I hope to see them again and snap a couple of shots. If these are rainforest creatures then I can not wait to get deeper into the rainforest to experience more of what it has to offer.

I went and talked to Pam the front clerk to book all of our trips.For Monday I booked the Kuranda Scenic Railway which is supposed to be a timeless rainforest journey through the oldest rainforest on the planet – 130 million years old.Dax loves trains.For Tuesday I booked the Reef Magic for a snorkelling tour of the Great Barrier Reef.There are also semi-submersible boats and glass bottomed boats to view the fish when Dax tires from snorkelling.I also booked Dax and Darren to go to this Magic Show on Saturday night.I am not into Magic shows, they do absolutely nothing for me.Plus then I get some alone time.When you are on the road and in and out of hotels and timeshares and on a million plane rides together, alone time is highly sought after.Plus I had a bottle of red St. Hallett’s Shiraz which is a really great Aussie wine and it was waiting for me.This particular bottle is 42 dollars at home and only 12 here.Let the good times roll.